Session Notes
Notes for the sessions will go here. Februray 25, 2012 DM: Noodle Notes: Matt - The campaign opens up in a damp and gloomy day within the confines of the city of Fallcrest. People are avoiding being outside to try and stay dry, but not Errich Troubadour. He finds himself traveling to the Half-Moon Trading House, home of the Guild formerly known as Adventurers United. He has received a letter asking for him specifically to travel here, from the head of the guild, Laurel Kington. Upon entering the building, he is shown to a side room by the proprietor of the Trading House, one Selarund Halfmoon. Inside, he finds 5 other like-minded adventurers who had the sense to get here sooner and avoid the rain. They are Malachi Balefrost, Darien the Unlucky, Gormath Skybreaker, Thor Hammerbeard, and Solomon Brigham. - After a short wait, Laurel enters the room and greets the adventurers. She has a task for them to complete as a group, sent to her from the head of Fallcrest, Faren Markelhay. About 3 days travel from Fallcrest is a small town that was once caught in an unfortunate time-loop. Time has since been restored thanks to Thor and another band of adventurers with him, and now the lord of the town, Lord Mobious, is to be arrested and taken to Fallcrest where he will serve his time. The group of adventurers here are to travel with Laurel to the town, retrieve Mobious, and see him safely taken to Fallcrest. - That afternoon and night a bunch of stuff happened that didn't really matter, but there was a baller party that happened at the Silver Unicorn Inn, courtesy of Gormath. Lots of stuff happened, you should have been there. - In the morning the party set off, and after 3 days of travel found themselves at the town where Mobious resided. They quickly made there way towards the lord's manor, and found him there with Faren. Faren himself didn't task anyone with recovering Mobious, and certainly doesn't know any of the adventurers that traveled with Laurel on the task. Nevertheless, since they are here, he allows them to take Mobius back to Fallcrest, but allows him to speak to his son first before they leave. - As Mobius meets with his son, a crimson robed figure approaches the group. He says that they are the ones he's been looking for, reveals his face (which is half skeleton), and tosses an object at the gathering. The object explodes, blinding, deafening, and knocking down everyone in the vicinity. As the smoke clears, the figure is gone, but his footsteps lead towards the manor. The party follows him with much haste. Inside Mobious' trophy room, they find the robed figure, which Thor recognizes as the now-living but previously-deceased nephew of Lord Mobious, Horonimo Varzand. He places a talisman on the wall, and a portal appears from it. He throws down a few objects, and from them skeletons erupt! The nephew escapes through the portal, and a fight between the party and the skeletons breaks out. It was a rough encounter, complete with Darien nearly dying (again), but the party indeed triumphed, and at the end they felt just a bit stronger. February 18, 2012 DM: Matt -The battle for Fort Cliffwall begins after the capture of Evertson's general. The enemy forces number close to 8,000, and they are all wearing a series of 5 colors on their uniforms, symbolizing their allegience to the evil goddess Tiamat. They have with them siege ladders, a ram, and catapults, ready to destroy the Fort if need be. -The party fights alongside Malorian soldiers to repel the Evertson forces at the battlements, the walls, and even within the fort itself. The Evertson attack destroys much of the Fort's towers and gates, and their forces are constantly pouring in. -2 Evertson soldiers disguised as Malores soldiers release the captured General from his bonds, hand him his spear, and watch as he throws three pellets from his pouch onto the ground before joining the fray. Shortly afterwards, three exemplars of Tiamat appear within the fort, and the party recognizes them as their former associates, Thal, Stanven, and Poersa. -Vargho slays the Evertson general, but as he collapses, Captain Satish yells for his forces to retreat into the fort. Once inside the tunnel, he prepares to press the button for the explosives, but a loud sound is heard from far away, as if a portal was opening. He hesitates, but then indeed presses the button, and the cliff collapses onto the fort. The party and around 500 Malores soldiers escape through the tunnel, and find themselves along the coast. Satish orders them to march back north towards Port Pristo, where they can bolster their defenses. -Along the way, the party's ship appears off the coast, and Baelgun Battleheart approaches them, exclaiming that Bruscanter is no more, having disappeared off the face of the earth. Now where it stands is nothing but ocean, and a black symbol of Vecna hanging in the air over where Taleran once stood. -The party returns to Port Pristo to the sight of citizens and soldiers celebrating the war with Bruscanter being over. Rumor has it that Lord Baen cast a ritual which destroyed the nation, sacrificing himself and the soldiers in order to eradicate the Vecna presence. Upon meeting with Duke Yenik, he hates that idea, saying Baen would never sacrifice his soldiers like that. He believes something more sinister is afoot, but is unsure of what to do right now with as little soldiers as he does. He thanks the party for their aid, but their work here is done, and requests that they leave. Upon exiting, Captain Satish apologizes for the Duke's mood, and names them honorary captains in the Malores army. Should they ever return, they will always be welcome, should Port Pristo still stand. February 11, 2012 DM: Matt -Before the party leaves Port Pristo, they must decide what to do with their ship they have claimed. The party decides on freeing the slaves that inhabit the ship, but they will pay the slaves wages in order to maintain their ship until they return. Mortivelli is taken to the city's prison, and Baelgun Battleheart is left in charge of the ship while the party is gone. -The party heads south towards Fort Cliffwall. Along the way they find themselves in a small village along the road. It is a rather quiet town, with all of the able-bodied men having been sent off north or south for the war. An elderly woman asks the party to help give a lucky charm to the youngest of her 4 boys, who is in the garrison at Fort Cliffwall. -After passing the village, a shadowy figure stalks the party from behind trees. He takes aim and launches a bolt at Izzy, wounding him. The party takes notice and incapacitates the attacker. They interrogate him until he gives up his information. He is a gnomish inventor named Guillermo Azius, who desires to kill Izzy no matter what. He claims that he heard of a guild of articifers starting in a city named Forgewind, and set to work on a great crossbow that would give it's wielder untold power. Upon reaching the guild and demonstrating the crossbow, he lost control of its power and it killed 2 civilians. The guild denied him and forced him to leave. Furious, he stole a list of the guild's members and set off back home. On the way back, he was attacked and robbed along the road by a famed thief named The Banshee, who resides within the underbelly of Evertson. His crossbow and all his possessions stolen, he vowed revenge on the artificers, who he claimed ruined his life. Unfortunately for him, Izzy put a bolt into his head, and his quest for revenge ceased. -The party reaches Fort Cliffwall, a fort residing at the base of a large mountain. They give their report to Captain Satish, and inform him that Evertson is seeking to betray Malores and join up with Bruscanter. He agrees that this seems like something they would do, harboring dislike for them already. He belives that the Evertson army will attempt to act friendly upon reaching the Fort, and once inside would act out their betrayal and crush the Malores forces outnumbered 4 to 1. He has a plan that he wishes to use, and tasks the party with setting out and preparing the fort for a defense. -After setting up the defenses, he reveals that he is going to attempt to talk the General of the Evertson forces to make his way into the Fort, expecting peace, and then the Malores army would spring a surprise attack, capture the General, and have a major advantage over the Evertson army to begin the fighting. Surprisingly, the General agrees to enter the Fort, and the Captain launches the attack, capturing the General and starting the battle. February 3, 2012 DM: Matt -Thor Hammerbeard is approached by one of the slaves from the lower decks as the party mills about their new ship. He says his name is Baelgun Battleheart, and he is a friend of Thor's father, Odin Hammerbeard, a famed paladin from Thunderhaven. He claims that Odin has fallen ill, and desires Thor to return home to him after he finishes his task. To aid him, Odin sent Baelgun out with Odin's hammer to give to Thor, but unfortunately, Vecna cultists in Bruscanter ambushed Baelgun and his escort. Baelgun was able to hide the hammer within a statue of Bahamut located in Bruscanter, but it was vandalized by the cultists, and will no longer open unless it is returned to form. -The party makes their way back towards Port Pristo, where Vargho gives their report to Duke Yenik about what has transpired over the last few weeks. The Duke can't belive that Evertson would betray them and ally with Bruscanter, but he isn't willing to let them take Port Pristo without a fight. He commends Vargho and the party for completing their earlier tasks, and then requests that they aid Malores once more. The party chose to make their way south towards Fort Cliffwall, and aid the small amount of Malores soldiers who were awaiting the Evertson army in order to march north into Bruscanter. -Before they left, the Archmage of the town requested the party's presence. He informed the party that he has heard reports of a Keep far to the north of Bruscanter, where bodies are being taken into it by wagons, and some dark rituals are being performed on them. He is not sure what these rituals entail, but it could be that they are attempting to strengthen the corpses to become more powerful than just shambling husks. He points out that James' body could be in this keep, as well as the body of Sergeant Verimity. January 28, 2012 DM: Matt -As the door to the barracks open, a couple guards walk in, not noticing the party members off to the side. Despite their attempts to hide and blend into the scenary, they alert the attention of the guards. Nervash charges at the guards and yells at the party that they need to run for it. Thus begins a long series of running throughout the castle that culminates in the party entering a dirt passageway underneath a laboratory. -During the chase, the party accidentally enters a room containing a shrine to the goddess Tiamat, as well as a priest there asking for their offerings to her. It is unknown whether or not the entire nation worships Tiamat, or if this is just another madness by King Osseus. -While in the passageway that leads to a warehouse at the docks, the soldiers from the castle flood the moat onto the party. They are able to make their way to a ladder that opens up into the warehouse, narrowly avoiding being swept away by the water. -The party approaches the ship that Captain Mortivelli commandeers, fighting their way past guards to reach the ship. Once on, they are phased through the deck of the ship, and find themselves in the hold. There they fight the First Mate, the Slave Master, and multiple pirates on their way back to the main deck. Unfortunately, 7 of the slaves on the ship were slain in the conflict. -The party engages Mortivelli in combat, and after a quick fight, he is dispatched. He begs for his life, offering to pilot the ship for the group wherever they desire, for they have nobody in their presence who knows how to pilot it. The party agrees to let him live, and in return he is chained to the wheel, and he gives the party free reign to his quarters. Inside is a map of Bruscanter, gems, paintings, and a statue of the goddess Tiamat, all valued at about 3000 gold. Also the party recovers the chest full of their gold, equaling 5600. -Also in the captain's quarter is a piece of paper with a riddle on it, and the word "Treasure" scrawled underneath it. The riddle reads "While moonlight has forsaken me, and the sun shines on me not, I keep living my life away, inside this place of rot. My guards are mere corpses, fit to smell and sleep. Please rescue me my saviors, from this damned forgotten keep." This began the sidequest "Treasure Hunters." January 13 & 21, 2012 DM: Matt -While Nervash unlocks the shackles holding the party captive, the cell door shuts behind him. The voice of The Cruciator calls out to the party, informing them that he is willing to grant their freedom, if they can solve the riddles and puzzles of his dungeon. Failure to do so may have dire consequences. -The party makes their way throughout the dungeon, solving multiple puzzles with ease, and others with difficulty, but nonetheless making their way towards the exit. Eventually they reach a room where The Cruciator emerges, along with guards, and engages the party. He attempts to sway them over to his side individually, but eventually he is brought down. He begs for mercy, but James finishes him off without warning, much to the dismay of the rest of the party. -During the fight, The Cruciator made the group wary of Nervash by telling him not to back out of their deal. Following their encounter, he explained that he was once employed by the nation of Evertson, and left after King Osseus began "going mad." He admitted that he agreed to aid them again upon being captured, but informed the party that he only did so to help them out of this dungeon. The party is now a bit cautious of him, while they find their gear in a seperate room, but not their gold. -Upon exiting the dungeon, they run into The Black Raven in the castle's barracks. He allows them to pass, but only if they lay low and don't cause too much commotion. He also tips them off that their gold is on the ship of Captain Mortivelli, the Halfling who brought them to Evertson following their defeat in Bruscanter. TBR leaves, and the party agrees to make their way towards the ship and get their gold back, when suddenly soldiers walk into the barracks, and the night ends. January 7, 2012 DM: Matt -The party awakens to find themselves chained to oars on a ship, stripped of all of their belongings and weapons, leaving them with only a robe bearing the logo of Vecna. Aylia is missing, as well as Nervash, Poersa, and Stanven, and all around them are other prisoners wearing the same robes. -A large half-orc slavemaster named Rorge shows up and orders the party to start rowing. Any backtalking or questions are met with a whip, and Izzy and James particularly found themselves covered in lashmarks during the voyage. After a day, they are called up above deck, where they meet the captain of the ship, Captain Mortivelli, a sinister halfling. He informs them that they are being delivered to the nation of Evertson, as a gift from Morice to solidify their new alliance. -Upon reaching Evertson, the party and a few other prisoners are lead to the throne room. They can't help but notice along the way the presence of bones and skeleton motifs around the city, including the flag and the armor of the town guards. King Osseus greets them in the throne room, and offers them a choice. They can either join his army and aid him in their war against Malores, or they can be thrown in the dungeon and had their defiance tortured out of them. They chose the latter, and were indeed thrown into the dungeon. -There they met the head torturer, a tiefling nicknamed The Cruciator. He gave the party a riddle, with a prize to be shown after it had been solved. A shadar-kai along with the prisoners answered it correctly, and was awarded with the prize of being tortured last. Izzy was chosen first, and in the chambers lost his left indez finger. After being returned to the cell unconcious, thee Cruciator and the guards left to investigate a disturbance. While they were gone, a robed figure approached the cell, took out the lone guard, and unlocked the door, revealing himself to be Nervash. As he helped the party out of their chains, the door slammed shut behind him. December 17, 2011 DM: Matt - The party (with Nervash) finishes its work at the dock and starts the trek home. On the way back, Nervash notices ominous smoke coming from the direction of their camp. - Upon returning to camp, the party finds Poersa and Thal, both heavily wounded, fighting Vecna cultists. - The party defeats the remaining cultists and takes stock of the situation. Sergeant Verimity had been slain in the surprise attack and Stanven was knocked unconscious. Poersa was heavily wounded but stable. - A mercenary called The Black Raven engages the group and retreats after a reasonable beating, courtesy of the PCs. - Cerad Morice and Grand Master Volnaxis enter the camp via magical portal and capture everyone, except Aylia Grayvine who teleported away from the fray. December 10, 2011 DM: Matt In the morning following their return to camp, Poersa comes back from scouting, and informs the group that the forest to the north had been burned down in recent days, meaning that the mission to secure it has been canceled. The group decided to head to the coast to the west to scout out the coast and to set up a dock for the naval invasion, and took Nervash along with them. The beach appears deserted when they arrive, and they begin with the construction of the dock. However as time passes, figures begin to approach them from around the beach, surrounding them quickly. They appear to be Wilden, who live in the sparse treeline along the beach. They are led by an elder named Vennermar, who is wary of the travelers entering his tribe's domain. They came from the forest to the north that was burnt down a few days prior. He listens to their stories, and agrees to let them continue building the dock, but only if they do a favor for him. He informs them of a poisoned stream further along the beach, and that they must cleanse it in order to gain his trust. When they reach the stream, it is a dull grayish color, and leads from a cave along the mountains. Inside the cave, there is a light deep inside of it, and at the light is an elderly wizard named Artimer Trisoph. He was a former wizard employed in the city of Taleran, who fled to the beach upon the city falling to Morice's forces.He then fled to cave after the Wilden came to the beach. He knows how to cure the stream, but he requires his staff in order to perform the ritual, which he dropped along the other side of the beach as he fled to the cave. Further along in the cave is the headless, bloated corpse of a gnoll from the Gnarltooth fight, who had been poisoned and dropped into the stream. His body was removed, and the poisoned stopped spreading, but it still needed to be dealt with. At the other side of the beach, the group is advanced upon by a clan of Lizardfolk. The leader of them, Forktongue, holds the staff of Artimer in his hand. He agrees to trade it to the group, but only if they return to the Wilden on the south side of the beach and recover a handaxe they stole off the corpse of a Lizardfolk they slew. The party return to the Wilden, get the handaxe, return to the Lizardfolk, trade the axe for the staff, return to Artimer, get the stream cured, and inform the Wilden about the good news. They agreed then to aid the party, gave them a crossbow to show their gratitude, and let the party finish their building of the dock. December 3, 2011 DM: Matt Having made their selection last week, the party (now all together for the first time) make their way back towards Port Pristo in order to set up their supply route. Sergeant Verimity gives leadership of the group to Izzy Rochfort, and hands him a note to deliver to Duke Yenik or Lord Baen. With Stanven in tow, the group makes their way out of the Crakkis Peaks. At the foot of the mountain they rediscover the Vecna symbol in the ground, and aiding Aylia, they are able to remove it from the earth. Continuing on, they see a ship off to the west, but are unable to make out it's colors or allegience. The next morning they see a squad of Port Pristo soldiers out patrolling the peninsula, under the command of Captain Timothy. He seems wary of Thor's Wacky Brigade, but he lets them move on. In town, the group delivers the news and note to Duke Yenik, who then orders them to make it known to each shop in town that they are to begin sending supplies to the basecamp in the Peaks. He also tells them about some disturbance at the Church and to check it out. The party finds out through asking around that the head of the church, Mother Edith, had been possibly kidnapped by Captain Timothy. Izzy, Vargho, and James also agreed to allow Honest Dave to set up a small shop up in the Peaks at their camp. After leaving Port Pristo, the party attempts to find Timothy again, but he has vacated his campsite. Following his tracks, they make their way to where they found the ship the day before, but only a few Vecna cultists were at the spot. Following a rather easy encounter, and a strutting Volnaxis image, the group continues on to their camp. There they informed Verimity that the supply route was set up, and that next they would be making their way to the coast to the west to set up for the naval landing that would be taking place there. November 26, 2011 DM: Matt We enter this session with the party approaching the Gnoll camp in the Crakkis Peaks. The group agrees to attempt a diplomatic meeting with the Gnolls, while also sending James, Nervash, Poersa, and Stanven off to sneak around the side of the camp in case things go wrong. The party met with the elder of the camp, a female Gnoll named Whiteclaw. While she was wary of helping the outsiders, she listened, and with their persuasive words, albeit with a lack of diplomacy, she agreed to aid the group. The party decided to use the camp as the base for their operations, but at night the tribe leader, Gnarltooth, returned to the camp. He had a strong hatred of outsiders, and slew Whiteclaw for aiding the party. After a vicious encounter, Gnarltooth and the rest of the gnolls at the camp were slain. Verimity tasked the group to clean out the camp and to get it ready for them to set up their base of operations. He then gave out 4 different tasks that needed to be done, and gave the group the option of which one to take. The party agreed to return to Port Pristo and set up a supply route between the camp and the city, and also making sure it is clear of any Vecna cultists along the way. They also took Stanven along with them. November 20, 2011 DM: Matt The party sets off towards the Crakkis Peaks, which is 2 days away from the city of Port Pristo. At the foot of the mountains, they party is accosted by Grand Master Volnaxis, the rumored second in command of the Vecna cultists that have overtaken Bruscanter. Volnaxis introduces himself to the group, splits the adventurers in half, and raises a small force to overtake them. The party members fight off the zombies and dead figures successfully, and Volnaxis takes his leave, but not before cursing Nervash. The party quickly attempts to halt the effects of the curse, and succeed in curing him on the ailment. Following this setback, the party makes their way into the peaks. Donning their new winter clothing, most of the party is kept safe from the chilled environment, except for Izzy Rochfort, the person who actually bought the clothes for the group. After a short while in the mountains, Stanven points out that gnoll tracks are along the path, and that a gnoll camp could possibly be coming up along the trail. The group remembers that they are to set up a base camp within these mountains, and that the gnolls will have to be dealt with in order to complete this task. They are left with the options of attacking the camp head-on, working out diplomacy, or sneaking into and eliminating the camp as the session draws to a close. November 12, 2011 DM: Matt The adventurers meet up in the town of Port Pristo within the nation of Malores. The nation lies adjacent to Bruscanter, where Cerad Morice and his followers have struck up a deal with the evil god Vecna, using a horde of demons and undead to sweep the countryside and eliminate all opposition. The leader of Malores, Duke Aren Yenik, and his second-in-command, Lord Baen have devised a plan for an elite group of select inviduals to infiltrate and sabotage Morice's forces, paving the way for the Malorian invasion of Bruscanter to succeed. Vargho, Izzy, and Aylia have been selected due to their previous experiences with Morice and his followers, and they know all too well what horrors have occurred in Bruscanter. Under the command of Sergeant Verimity, the group of 10 adventurers will be setting up north, to set up a base of operations in the Crakkis Peaks. The Duke requested that in their travels, the group capture or kill one Grand Master Volnaxis, said to be Cerad Morice's right-hand man. While in town, Izzy was tasked by a geographer named Plymouth Canor to draw up a map of Bruscanter on his travels. James helped the judge of Port Pristo bring a thief into custody, and James, Izzy, and Vargho put on a wonderful play for Dasmond the Great. After 2 days in town, the 6 party members met up with the Sergeant and the other 4, and set off to the north. November 5, 2011 DM: Jordan Zombies ate my town guard! Also the dead priestess from act 1 did it. October 29, 2011 DM: Jordan Aluerris and Redim kill hooded figures, much to Nazrell's dismay. October 15, 2011 DM: Matt Murder Mystery! Igor did it. October 8, 2011 DM: Jordan Fighting dudes in the Magic Tower. October 1, 2011 DM: Jordan Assaulting the Magic Tower and solving puzzles. September 24, 2011 DM: Jordan Finding a Magic Tower. September 17, 2011 DM: Jordan I'm Dresh. NO I'M DRESH. September 10, 2011 DM: Jordan The party came upon a barricade along the road to Troia. Meeting the captain of the guard Sam Ridgey, they discovered that a group of mercenaries had taken a deva priestess hostage along the road up ahead. The members of the guard were intent on rescuing the hostage and were not moving towards the bandits just yet. Aleurris Falsifier (then disguised as Preston) went forward to speak with them, attempting to get the hostage back. As she was trying to persuade Dresh, the leader of the bandits, to let the priestess go, Nazrell snuck along the outside of the path to sneak up behind them. When negotiations failed, the battle ensued, with Nazrell getting the jump on two in the back, as the rest were left to focus on the forward few. When the battle turned grim for the bandits, one of them took the chance to execute the priestess. He quickly fell, and Dresh was cut down attempting to escaspe. Returning to the barricade, the party persuaded Captain Ridgey that the hostage had been killed before they got there. However with this situation resolved, the barricade was taken down and caravans were allowed to travel into the city once more.